The Honors Program at Belmont University was created to provide an enrichment opportunity for students who have potential for superior academic performance, and who seek added challenge and breadth in their studies. The program is designed to allow students to be as creative in their study as their ability permits, and yet to encourage in their study a range and depth of learning in keeping with the faculty’s expectations of excellence for honors students.

Students are offered a creative curriculum, flexibility and individualization in the formation of their degree plans, the collegiality of like-minded and equally dedicated peers, and academic and personal support from a private Honors Tutor, who is also a distinguished honors faculty member.

Participation in the Honors Program supplements, a baccalaureate major. The Honors Program has an alternative General Education Curriculum core which substitutes for the regular B.A.; B.B.A., B.F.A.; B.M., B.S.; B.S.N.; or B.S.W. General Education core shown elsewhere in the bulletin. Students in the Honors Program must complete Belmont's Engaged Scholars Program.

The Honors Program is administered by the Honors Council composed of one faculty member from each of the university’s colleges, the Director of the Honors Program. The program is also advised by a Student Honors Council consisting of two student representatives from each Honors Program class.

Belmont offers many types of financial awards and scholarships to academically superior students. Faculty and staff make significant efforts are made to insure that all students in the Honors Program have an opportunity to acquire such aid, but no financial aid is directly linked to participation in the program. Students should consult the section on financial aid in this bulletin.

Enrollment in Honors Courses

Students in the Honors Program are required to complete a 47-hour curriculum, and are encouraged to complete each course with their specific cohort of peers. Students not in the program may request permission from the director to register for honors seminars. Such students should have a 3.2 G.P.A., written recommendations from their academic advisors, and permission from the instructor.

Withdrawal, Dismissal, and Reinstatement

Students may withdraw from the Honors Program at their own discretion. However, they are required to notify the director, in writing, of their intention to withdraw.

Beginning with the end of the freshman year, honors students’ grade point averages are reviewed regularly. Students who fail to maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 will be placed on probation. If a student has a GPA of less than 3.2 by the beginning of the junior year; or if at any point it becomes unlikely for a student to attain a GPA of 3.2 by the end of the junior year, the student will be dismissed from the program. Dismissal can be appealed to the Honors Council.

Honors students who fail to demonstrate a responsible commitment to the program or an appropriate decorum consistent with the high values of the Honors Program may be dismissed from the program by the Honors Council. Any student seeking reinstatement to the Honors Program after being dismissed must go through the application process again.

Honors students who have been absent from the university for more than one year must reapply for admission to the program.

The Plan of Study for Belmont Scholars

All honors students have the unique and challenging task of structuring their own baccalaureate degree plan. The freshman year is devoted to intensive reflection on and preparation of the Plan of Study, under the guidance of an honors faculty tutor. By the end of the sophomore year, the Plan of Study must be approved by the Honors Council. Plans of Study must be completed before a student is permitted to graduate, and may be altered with the approval of the Honors Council.

The Plan of Study must include an approved major, but no minor is required. The major may be one documented in the academic bulletin, or one designed by the student. Each Plan of Study must include the honors general education core, the honors orientation course, an honors tutorial each semester, approved honors seminars, the honors thesis, and the honors exit seminar.

The honors student is strongly encouraged to include in the Plan of Study a foreign language through the intermediate level and one year of a laboratory science.

The balance of the baccalaureate program may be determined by the student and tutor. A minimum of 128 semester hours is required for a bachelor’s degree from Belmont. Many departments require specific courses which must appear on the Plan of Study, and close consultation between the student, the Honors Tutor, and the department chairperson is essential.

Students in the Honors Program are not required to participate in the Engaged Scholars program.

Honors Tutorials

Education is much more than the communication of facts. There are attitudes, ideals and values to be imparted as well. For this reason, academic tradition has always recognized the value of a one-to-one relationship between a student and a chosen faculty member.

Belmont’s Honor Program preserves this tradition in a formal way. Students request a particular Honors Tutor at the end of their first semester. From that time on, the Tutor serves as a confidant, counselor, advocate, and guide through the student’s academic and vocational pilgrimage at Belmont.

Tutors guide the formation of the student’s Plan of Study. Students meet with their Honors Tutor one hour each week, sometimes in an individual session, and sometimes in a small group. Students keep a journal of their tutorial assignments and experiences. During the last year at Belmont, students write a personal credo and discuss it in an exit seminar.

Honors Thesis/Project

Research is crucial to the essence of a Belmont Scholar. Accordingly, all honors students complete academic research, professional projects, and scholarly writing throughout their programs. However, being a Belmont Scholar also requires some degree of specialization. So, all students in the Honors Program are required to write an honors thesis which may include a creative project in their major area.

During the junior year, a thesis/project prospectus is formulated in consultation with the Honors Tutor. By the end of the junior year, the prospectus must be submitted for approval to the thesis committee and Honors Council. Particulars about the thesis and supervising committee may be obtained from the director of the Honors Program.

Graduating with Honors and as a Belmont Scholar

Belmont recognizes and employs the traditional honors nomenclature, and students need not be admitted to the Honors Program to graduate with an honors distinction.

In addition to these awards, the university also designates some students as Belmont Scholars. To be eligible for such a designation, a student must have successfully completed Belmont's Honors Program.

The minimal requirements for graduation as a Belmont Scholar are as follows:

a minimum of a 3.2 cumulative grade point average,

personal values and decorum adjudged worthy of the designation,

completion of the honors core requirements,

completion of the honors coursework approved on the student's Plan of Study,